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Posts tagged “New Sounds Live”

“On Thursday, February 23 at 7:30 pm ET, Q2 Music and WNYC’s New Sounds present a live audio Webcast from Merkin Concert Hall of musical cross-pollination and experimentation from composer-performers Nick Zammuto (The Books) and Jason Treuting (So Percussion). The concert is hosted by John Schaefer.

Composer, vocalist and cellist Nick Zammuto is a founding member of the eclectic electro-acoustic duo The Books and, more recently, the four-piece indie rock band Zammuto. A member of So Percussion, Jason Treuting has been a mainstay of New York’s new-music scene for over a decade, and has worked with artists such as David Lang, Paul Lansky and the electronic duo Matmos.

The two composers are joined on-stage by guitarist Grey McMurray of the ambient “classical” group itsnotyouitsme, new-music flute/viola/harp trio janus, and vocalist Daisy Press.

“On Friday, February 3 at 7:30 pm ET, Q2 Music and New Sounds Live team up again for another live audio Webcast of live scores to the silent films of acclaimed American filmmaker Bill Morrison. Tonight, enjoy Michael Gordon’s riveting score to Morrison’s 2002 masterpiece, Decasia, as performed by The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble at World Financial Center Winter Garden. The evening will be hosted by John Schaefer of WNYC’s New Sounds Live.

Michael Gordon

John Schaefer

Hailed as a “stirring, haunting modern masterpiece…” by The Guardian, the 72 minute Decasia is an evocative assemblage of deteriorating, black and white video footage over which Gordon has pieced together a texture of detuned piano and out-of-phrase orchestral sonorities.”

See the full post here, including an audio of the composer speaking about the composition.

[A personal note: this is one of my favorite pieces of music. I think that I first heard it on wnyc2, the predecessor of Q2. I bought it in .mp3 while it was still being streamed.]

The Miners’ Hymns from Bill Morrison, who Variety heralded as ‘one of the most adventurous American filmmakers,’ is a meditation on the daily lives of coal miners in the industrial city of Durham in northeast England during the early 20th century. Conceived with composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Miners’ Hymns contrasts archival footage, some dating back 100 years, with sweeping aerial views of a transformed modern-day Durham.

Jóhannsson’s score to the 52 minute film provides a moving account of the miners’ lives, simultaneously heroic and hardscrabble, with a rich brass and electronic-heavy texture. The music also harkens back to the colliery brass bands caught in the film’s archival footage. ”

See the full article here, including “…a taste for the film from the film’s preview and this interview with Morrison and Jóhannsson discussing their collaboration.”